March PPI Shows 0.7% Rise; Up 6% YoY
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Data from the Labor Department showed that U.S. wholesale prices reversed a drop in February with a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent increase in March, bolstered by higher prices for vegetables. Economists had expected the PPI to rise 0.4 percent in March, after a 0.6 percent drop in February.
The producer price index has surged 6 percent in the last year, led by a 23 percent jump in energy prices. This marks the largest year-over-year gain for the index since September 2008.
The core index, which excludes the impact of food and energy prices, increased just 0.1 percent last month, which was in line with the expectations of economists and the same movement as the prior month.
The small incremental rises in prices have helped the Federal Reserve in keeping interest rates at record lows as the economy combats high unemployment and attempts to emerge from the recession.
Food prices were up 2.4 percent in March, which is the sharpest one-month increase for the reading since 1984. The increase was due to a 49.3 percent jump in the price of fresh and dry vegetable prices, as the price of onions and cauliflowers more than doubled.
Following a 2.9 percent drop in February, energy prices jumped back up by 2.9 percent last month.
The PPI showed that the prices of raw materials or crude goods increased 3.2 percent in March, while intermediate goods prices increased by 0.6 percent.
The Fed is expected to cite low risk of inflation as a reason to keep the interest rates at the current record lows at its next meeting April 27-28.
The producer price index has surged 6 percent in the last year, led by a 23 percent jump in energy prices. This marks the largest year-over-year gain for the index since September 2008.
The core index, which excludes the impact of food and energy prices, increased just 0.1 percent last month, which was in line with the expectations of economists and the same movement as the prior month.
The small incremental rises in prices have helped the Federal Reserve in keeping interest rates at record lows as the economy combats high unemployment and attempts to emerge from the recession.
Food prices were up 2.4 percent in March, which is the sharpest one-month increase for the reading since 1984. The increase was due to a 49.3 percent jump in the price of fresh and dry vegetable prices, as the price of onions and cauliflowers more than doubled.
Following a 2.9 percent drop in February, energy prices jumped back up by 2.9 percent last month.
The PPI showed that the prices of raw materials or crude goods increased 3.2 percent in March, while intermediate goods prices increased by 0.6 percent.
The Fed is expected to cite low risk of inflation as a reason to keep the interest rates at the current record lows at its next meeting April 27-28.
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